Progression is important. I'm always going to play music in the general vein of rock'n'roll, but when I started I was very much associated with the West Coast lo-fi thing and I didn't want to get anchored in with anything that was just in vogue for the time being.

I like California a lot more than New York these days.

Metallica - they're so demonic, they're crazy, I don't know how they do it.

I just being able to write songs I'm proud of and finding some women to play with is exciting.

Ricky Nelson... I couldn't believe it when he died. He was a great rock star.

The distance thing is partially due to the fact that I'm pretty shy and I've struggled with extreme stage fright in the past. So I just have to go onstage in a different head space so I'm not as self-aware.

The main issue was deciding what to play: Should it be old Ramones material or new material? I had about three albums worth of new material, but I knew that people would rather hear the Ramones songs.